Paramount Home Media Distribution/Summary
Background: Paramount Home Media Distribution (formerly "Paramount Home Entertainment", "Paramount Home Video", and "Paramount Video") is Paramount Pictures' home media division and was formed in 1979 (some sources claim late 1975). The company owns the home media rights to films owned by Paramount and shows from sister company Viacom Media Networks (under individual labels such as MTV Home Video and other subsidiaries). The company also licenses the right to release material from CBS Corporation (such as CBS Television Studios/CBS Television Distribution and Showtime Networks material and released through CBS Home Entertainment, although CBS Films material is released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Lionsgate Home Entertainment) and several independent studios. They formerly released DreamWorks Animation material through DreamWorks Animation Home Entertainment until 2014, when the latter acquired distribution rights to their library and transferred the rights to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. On September 27, 2011, Paramount Home Entertainment was renamed Paramount Home Media Distribution after merging with Paramount Digital and Television. Later in the decade, the company held a co-distribution deal with Warner Home Video, and also licensed the Republic Pictures library and select Paramount films (although, like the Warner Home Video deal, Paramount still controls some films) to Olive Films, Kino Lorber, and Shout! Factory. Paramount continues to release licensed material and material from sister companies. Paramount Home Video 1st Logo (November 1979-June 1980) Nicknames: "Still Mountain," "Boring Mountain," "Home Video Blue Mountain" Logo: On a navy blue background, we see "Paramount" in the famous script, and "HOME VIDEO" below that in a wide Microgramma Bold font in between two lines, one above and one below. To the right of that, we see the 1968 Paramount print logo to the right, complete with the Gulf+Western byline. A moment later, a warning screen (also on a navy blue background) fades over this logo. FX/SFX: None; unless you count the fade to the warning screen. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Extremely rare. Because the format was in its infancy at the time, releases were in lower quantities and are harder to find. *This should appear on a few VHS releases from 1979 and 1980 including the first two Godfather films, Saturday Night Fever, Grease, Heaven Can Wait, True Grit (1969), Goin' South, Play It Again Sam, The Bad News Bears (1976), Prophecy, and Catch 22. *Among the last releases to use this logo were five volumes of Star Trek episodes as part of the "Television Classics" series on VHS and Betamax in early 1980 (which are long out of print, having been replaced in 1985 by Paramount's single episodes releases, and are hard to find), as well as tapes of North Dallas Forty, Emmanuelle: The Joys of a Woman, and early copies of Escape from Alcatraz. *This surprisingly appears on a late 1983 pressing of The Odd Couple (usually, releases printed around that time started with the "Acid Trip" warning screen, followed by the Paramount Pictures logo), which is likely a reprint. Editor's Note: It's a little simple, but this is one of the earliest home video logos ever, so don't expect a showstopper. However, it does get better with the subsequent logos... 2nd Logo (July 1980-June 1981, 1984) Nicknames: "Mountain Silhouette," "Scanimated Mountain of Doom," "Black Mountain," "Rising Mountain," "Cheesy Mountain," "In the Shadow of Paramount" Logo: On a blue background, we zoom out on a silhouette of a mountain. After we zoom out to a comfortable distance, a bright flash occurs behind the mountain, and white "stars" (they look like circles or lens flares) appear, as well as "Paramount" (in a school bus yellow script, but closer to the pre-1975 logos). A saffron-colored trapezoidal trail zooms out from the base, and "HOME VIDEO" (set in the same font as the previous logo) zooms out soon after, tacked onto the saffron-colored trail. As that happens, the blue background gets extremely dark (looking like federal blue). The end result looks like the pre-1967 print logo. Trivia: The second half of the logo was once used as the 1977 Paramount Television Service logo. "PARAMOUNT TELEVISION SERVICE" was featured at the bottom, which explains the chyron for "HOME VIDEO". The original version of the logo was produced by the design firm of Sullivan & Marks. Variant: On Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!, the logo cuts to the last half of the film's Paramount logo. FX/SFX: The flash and the effects are pure Scanimate effects. Music/Sounds: A pounding backbeat as the mountain zooms out, then a synth chord mixed with a brief explosion sound and synthesized sizzling. Availability: Like the first logo, this is also extremely rare, but more because of the fact that this was only used on two batches of releases and re-releases. *Seen on VHS/Beta releases of the time, which are not that easy to find, especially since the logo was usually taken off of post-1981 prints. However, since this was on a decent variety of movies, it may help a little. *Among the releases are Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!), Death Wish, Breaking Glass, Friday the 13th, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Airplane!, Charlotte's Web, Little Darlings, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown!, Barbarella, Starting Over, American Gigolo, Urban Cowboy and Shogun. *Some, if very little, post-1981 prints surprisingly keep this logo intact. *Also seen on certain Hi-Fi re-releases of Paramount's early releases (such as Downhill Racer and Death Wish) from 1984, and the original Hi-Fi VHS release of True Grit (1969). *Don't expect this logo on Laserdisc releases, as it was replaced with the Laservision logo. *It made a surprise appearance on a 2019 April Fool's Day VHS trailer for Bumblebee, despite the film taking place after the logo ended (the trailer also appeared on the promotional VHS version it was plugging). Editor's Note: It shares the same amount of cheesiness from the Paramount Television Service logo, with the added edition of the cheap cut to it and the chyroned "HOME VIDEO" text. It's also known to creep out some thanks to the ominous music and nature. On the other hand, it's a favorite to those looking for the tapes that have this logo. 3rd Logo (November 1982-March 1987; 1990s) Nicknames: "Growing Mountain", "Blue Paramount" Logo: On a black background, we see the abstract mountain logo, with "Paramount" in black script in the light blue circle like the other Paramount logos, and the "A Gulf + Western Company" byline at the bottom in light blue. It begins to zoom up on us, as the stars (which are followed by light trail-streaks) and byline zoom past, and both the mountain and circle grow bigger until we are literally right on top of the peak of the mountain, with "Paramount" centering in, filling the middle of the screen. When the peak hits the bottom and "Paramount" fits the center, "Paramount" begins to shine, then there is a very bright flash, and it dies down to reveal the Paramount script logo (in blue) and a small "VIDEO" (shining a bit) between two blue lines. Variants: *A black and white variant exists. *A rare, slightly longer variant exists, which starts with a still shot of the blue Paramount print logo. After a little over a second, the music starts and the logo animates as normal. Some while after the "Paramount VIDEO" logo forms, it fades out. The fades are also slower on this version. *At the end of an April 1998 Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy) airing of The Devonsville Terror, the animation is slowed down but plays as normal until all there is is "Paramount" and the mountain, when the logo freezes in place and the rest of the music is heard. It's unknown if this was used anyplace other than this. FX/SFX: The growing mountain and the flash are pure Scanimate effects. Certainly a large improvement over its predecessor. Music/Sounds: A building set of synthesized strings, ending in a new-age synthesizer tune composed by Richard J. Krizman, which sounds somewhat similar to the "Meet George Jetson" portion of the Jetsons theme. Music/Sounds Variant: On the 1983 RCA CED videodisc release of An Evening with Robin Williams, this follows the RCA SelectaVision logo, but is silent. Availability: Very rare. *Most Paramount films used the logo used on the film, but most television series (such as Star Trek, though the 1984 Television Classics Laserdisc release of the two-parter "The Menagerie" uses no logo), comedy specials (such as Paramount Comedy Theater: Volume 1), and licensed material (such as Hey There, It's Yogi Bear! and The Adventures of the American Rabbit) have this logo. *It was also seen on some prints of the 1982 VHS release of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (the earliest prints, from around 1982-early 1983, have no logo), and a 1990 reprint of it retained the logo. *It is also on the 1991 release of Toho Entertainment's The Wizard of Oz and the 1992 release of A Dog of Flanders (along with the warning that preceded it), also likely reprints themselves. *The black and white version can be found on the Untouchables (1959) pilot, "The Scarface Mob", and Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back. *This was also surprisingly seen on an early 1990s re-release of Strong Kids, Safe Kids, after the 5th logo. *Other releases that have this include Teen Wolf and Call to Glory. *This also appeared on 1984-86 episodes of the Showtime sitcom Brothers, which was produced by Paramount Video during that timeframe (Paramount Television took over for the 1987-89 episodes). *On Gallagher: The Maddest and The Third Monty Python's Flying Circus Videocassette (and possibly other releases with this logo), it also appears at the end of the tape in addition to the beginning. Editor's Note: This logo is a favorite of many, thanks to its soothing music and rather high-tech (for the time) animation. 4th Logo (April 1987-February 4, 2003; mid-2000s) Nicknames: "CGI Mountain," "Model Mountain" Logo: It's the 1986 Paramount Pictures logo with no video indicator whatsoever. The difference here from the theatrical version is that the picture quality is sharper and the color scheme is brighter than normal. Bylines: *April 1987-1989: "A Gulf + Western Company". 1987 releases used the 75th Anniversary variant, while 1988-89 releases used the standard version. *1989-1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" with a line above the byline fades in. 1989-90 releases had the byline and line above it in gold, while 1990-95 releases had them in white. *1995-February 4, 2003: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in the 1990 \/|/\CO/\/\ "Wigga Wigga" font) with a line above the byline fades in, again, in white. Variants: *A black and white version was found on the 1988 VHS releases of Hamlet and This Sporting Life. *At the end of some home video promos from the early 1990s, the logo is shortened to when the semi-circle forms. Alongside the byline, a copyright notice fades in. FX/SFX: The same as the Paramount logo from 1986. Music/Sounds: None. Music/Sounds Variant: Following a retailer promo for Drop Zone on its demo VHS, the 1987 Paramount Television theme plays. Availability: Extremely common. *This was used as a de-facto home video logo, and can be seen on every VHS and Laserdisc release from that period -- this also includes television series (such as the original Star Trek), comedy specials, and non-Paramount films like Teen Wolf Too and The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. Combine this with its 16-year span, and this may be the most common home video logo period, more so than any of Disney's logos, or even the following logo. *Look for either the 75th Anniversary print logo, or the standard Gulf+Western print logo (with no mention of "HOME VIDEO") on the packaging and labels. The 75th Anniversary logo plasters over the "Blue Mountain" logo on the 1987 home video releases of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, "Crocodile" Dundee, Children of a Lesser God, and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. *Meanwhile, the standard Gulf+Western version plasters over the 75th Anniversary logo on the 1988 releases of Beverly Hills Cop II, The Untouchables, Back to the Beach, Fatal Attraction, and Planes, Trains, & Automobiles. International VHS releases of these films (all released by CIC Video except for "Crocodile" Dundee) will likely have the film's original logo intact. *This was also used on all 1994-2004 Peanuts VHS releases and all Nickelodeon VHS releases from 1996 to 2003. *The 75th Anniversary variant was also used on a Showtime broadcast of Hamburger Hill from March 1991. *It was also seen on the direct-to-video films The Little Bear Movie and Blue's Big Musical Movie. *Strangely, a 1991 VHS of The Great Gatsby (1974) plasters the film's original Paramount logo with the Gulf+Western variant. *The logo makes unexpected appearances on the demo VHS releases of Jakers: Piggly Gets Into Trouble & The Wonder Pets: Save The Wonder Pets, whose respective commercial releases were in 2006 and 2007. *Occasionally, this will appear before the opening previews on certain tapes. Examples include the Paramount reissue of Rugrats: A Baby's Gotta Do What a Baby's Gotta Do and some other Nickelodeon tapes from 1996. 5th Logo (May 17, 1989-2007) Nicknames: "Feature Presentation," "Abstract Mountain," "The ID-ish Logo" Logo: On a background filled with blue/indigo squares, we see a blue square with the Paramount mountain logo in gold. It shines, then moves and zooms away as the squares behind it move off, revealing the stacked words "FEATURE PRESENTATION" in gold zooming in on a heliotrope gradient background. The words shine, and after that, it zooms towards us at breakneck speed. Just when the text engulfs the screen, it cuts to a warning screen, which has a pattern of Paramount mountains in the background. Bylines: This used whatever byline Paramount was using at the time: *May 17-October 16, 1989: "A Gulf + Western Company" (used for only six months that year) *November 9, 1989-May 16, 1995: "A Paramount Communications Company" (the "Feature Presentation" versions have a different font for the Paramount Communications byline: sans serif) *June 13, 1995-2007: "A VIACOM COMPANY" (in the same font as the 1990 Viacom logo) Variants: *A pre-trailer version was used from 1989-96. In this version, the words "COMING ATTRACTIONS" appear over the heliotrope gradient background, and it cuts out after the zoom in. *A black and white variant exists. It can be seen on the 1989 VHS issues of Sunset Boulevard, The Delicate Delinquent, and The Desperate Hours, and the 1990 VHS of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. On Laserdisc, it appears on the 1989 printing of The Courageous Dr. Christian. *There is a very rare longer version of the Gulf+Western variant where once we fade in, the logo doesn't actually start for a few seconds. Also, once the "FEATURE PRESENTATION" text zooms in, there is a tan screen for a split-second, then the warning screen appears. It appears on Gulf+Western-era releases of the first four Star Trek motion pictures, and in black and white on Sunset Boulevard. *A shorter version of the Viacom variant exists where it cuts to black after the "FEATURE PRESENTATION" text zooms in. This can be seen on the 1997 releases of the Godfather trilogy, the 2003 Filipino VCD of Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, UK and Australian releases that have special features after the film, and the 1994 screener VHS of Dragonworld (this also applies to promotional copies of Paramount films as well, although the demo warning screen appears after a split-second of a black screen). *On the 1991 screener VHS of Hired to Kill, the logo cuts in rather than fading in as it usually does. FX/SFX: The CGI squares moving away and the animation on the Paramount square, which held up pretty well throughout the logo's lifespan. Music/Sounds/Voice-over: The 1979 "Paramount on Parade" fanfare, with a male announcer saying "And now, we're pleased to bring you our feature presentation." Strangely, some tapes with no previews have this voiceover, such as a reprint of the original 1989 VHS release of Major League, a few Star Trek titles (one printing of the 1989 release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the pan and scan version of the 1991 Star Trek: The Movies VHS box set widescreen version uses the other voiceover, the 2002 release of Star Trek: Nemesis), Cousins, Scrooged, Paycheck, Extreme Ops, 2005 prints of Mean Girls and School of Rock, Timeline, and a 1998 printing of Kid Cop. Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variants: *A variation exists where the announcer says "Paramount is pleased to bring you our feature presentation." This was used with all three bylines, and can be found on Laserdisc releases, as well as VHS releases which have no previews before the film (such as the 1989 releases of the first four Star Trek films, the 1998 release of A Separate Peace, the 2000 release of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the 2001 release Nick Jr.'s Imagine That!, some promotional tapes, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, Teletubbies: "Naughty Noo Noo!", Boohbah: "Hot Dog", Nickelodeon Super Toons, and the 1998 widescreen VHS release of Forrest Gump). On rare occasions, this variation did appear right after previews, such as the 1996 VHS of Ferris Bueller's Day Off (and a 2000 reprint), the 1998 demo VHS of Rugrats: Grandpa's Favorite Stories, and three in a series of four videocassettes sold as part of a 1993 McDonald's promotion, namely The Addams Family, Ghost, and Wayne's World (Charlotte's Web was the fourth, but it had the standard voiceover). (these releases have the Rank Home Video print logo on one of the spines on the slipcovers for those films and a face label on the tapes with a special red, yellow, black and white color scheme). *On the "COMING ATTRACTIONS" variant, the announcer says "Here are some exciting coming attractions from Paramount." *On the VHS of The Desperate Hours and the Laserdisc of The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live (both released in 1989), the ending of the fanfare is cut off. This also happens on the demo VHS editions of Leapin' Leprachauns! and Magic in the Mirror: Fowl Play, except at a slightly later point in the music. *On the 1991 screener VHS of Subspecies, the logo is silent. (The commercial release has the regular audio.) *On the 1991 screener VHS of Hired to Kill, the music starts a split-second in due to the logo cutting in. Availability: Very common. It appears on most Paramount video releases. *The original Gulf+Western variation (the rarest of the three) made its debut on the May 1989 home video release of Coming to America, and can be found on releases such as the first four Star Trek films, Distant Thunder, The Experts, The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live, Cousins, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, Major League, Pet Sematary, and Puppet Master, among others. *The Paramount Communications variation is somewhat easier to find, having debuted on the November 1989 VHS release of Scrooged, and also appearing on such titles as the 1990 VHS release of Grease, the 1991 VHS and Laserdisc releases of Ghost, both Wayne's World films, the 1993 release of Charlotte's Web, and the 1994 widescreen VHS release of Forrest Gump. It also appears on titles co-distributed with Prism Entertainment and Full Moon Entertainment. *The Viacom variant is the most common of the three and appears on nearly every Paramount VHS release from 1995 onwards, starting with the June 1995 VHS release of Drop Zone (although the screener version uses the Paramount Communications byline). *The final Paramount film to use this logo was the 2006 VHS of Yours, Mine & Ours (2005), the final commercial release overall to have it was the ultra rare 2006 VHS of Go Diego Go!: Diego Saves Christmas!, and its final appearance overall was on an even rarer 2007 demo VHS of The Wonder Pets: Save the Wonder Pets. *The "COMING ATTRACTIONS" version was last used on the 1996 VHS of The Phantom. *Some titles, such as the 1991 LaserDisc release of Apocalypse Now and the 1998 VHS release of Titanic, go straight to the warning screen, while on the 1997 releases of The Godfather trilogy, the logo cuts to a black screen before the 1995 THX logo, as the warnings are placed at the beginning, separate from the logo. It also goes right to the warning screen on most French Canadian releases. *This makes a surprise appearance on foreign VHS releases that have any special features at the end of the tape (perhaps because American video masters were likely used over in the UK, but were edited for release there), such as the UK releases of The Italian Job (2003) and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and an Australian dealer copy of Jackass: The Movie. *This appears on demo VHS tapes of PBS Kids shows from 2004 to 2006, such as Boohbah. The commercial releases just start with the warning screen used on Paramount DVDs. Editor's Note: Perhaps one of the most famous logos in home video history. The cut to black on the "COMING ATTRACTIONS" variant may surprise some, though. 6th Logo (December 1993) Nickname: "Lined Mountain" Logo: On a black background with blue filmstrips, "Paramount" is seen being written in a gold color in its trademark font. As this is occurring, the background is opening up in segments to reveal the 1986 Paramount logo, without a byline and the stars in a light gold color. FX/SFX: The background opening up, "Paramount" being written, and the Paramount Pictures logo being revealed. All of this is very nice CGI. Music/Sounds/Voice-over: A male announcer says, "Paramount Pictures, bringing you the best in holiday entertainment, and the best of the new year". All of this is said against a bombastic fanfare, an excerpt from The Untouchables soundtrack composed by Ennio Morricone. Availability: Very rare. This logo was seen on VHS releases by the company from the era around the Christmas season of 1993 that were available in McDonald's restaurants. The releases were Charlotte's Web, Ghost, The Addams Family, and Wayne's World. 7th Logo (May 4-December 10, 2002) Nicknames: "Feature Presentation II", "CGI Mountain II", "Ultra Majestic Mountain", "Ultra Majestic Perumount" Logo: An enhanced version of the previous "Feature Presentation" logo. A full color version of the 2002 Paramount logo appears in a square that overlaps a background of four purple squares. A line of light passes over it, and then the logo flies off and the squares peel off, pretty much like before. They reveal "FEATURE PRESENTATION" in a gold-yellow font flying into place, each word from a different end. The words now float against a dark cloud background, eventually zooming out towards the screen in a trail of gold light. The warning post appears as always, but with a dark blue background in place of the usual logo wallpaper. Variant: Some prints of Changing Lanes have this logo cut to the 1995 warning screen instead of the 2002 version (this is probably due to the fact that some prints use the previous Feature Presentation screen instead of this one). FX/SFX: Same as the previous logo, except for the moving cloud background and the trailing gold light of the text. Music/Sounds/Voice-over: Same as the 5th logo. Music/Sounds/Voice-over Variant: On very rare occasions, the logo uses the "Paramount is..." voiceover. The only known releases with this variant are Damaged Care, Bleacher Bums, My Horrible Year!, Bobbie's Girl, the demo VHS tapes of SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Bash and Hey Arnold!: The Movie, and The Day Reagan was Shot. Availability: Rare, as this logo was only used for less than a year. *It premiered on Vanilla Sky (though there exist copies with the 5th logo) and was last seen on K-19: The Widowmaker. *Other 2002 Paramount tapes with this logo include SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, The Sum of All Fears, Lucky Break, MTV Yoga, Crossroads, Dora the Explorer: Move to the Music, The Day Reagan Was Shot, Damaged Care, Bleacher Bums, My Horrible Year!, the demo VHS tapes of SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom Bash and Hey Arnold!: The Movie, all 3 Jackass volumes, and Rugrats Christmas. *Some 2002 titles, such as Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, SpongeBob SquarePants: Halloween, 9/11: The Filmmakers' Commemorative Edition, Rugrats Halloween, the Special Edition VHS release of Rat Race, the standard VHS version of Hey Arnold!: The Movie, and the demo VHS of SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, have this logo's print version on the spine but instead use the 5th logo.. Paramount DVD 1st Logo (2002) Logo: We see the 1986-2002 Paramount logo (with the Viacom byline) already formed. However, the "Paramount" text is black and a disc is behind the mountain. "DVD" is below the mountain, with the Viacom byline below that. FX/SFX: None. Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the TV spot. Availability: Extinct. Was seen on a 2002 TV spot for the DVD release of Rat Race. It is unknown if this appeared anywhere else, but don't expect to see an animated variant on early Paramount DVDs as they usually open with their FBI warning. Editor's Note: Its existence was debated for a while, since its rushed look does make it look like a fanmade logo. 2nd Logo (2002-06) Nicknames: "CGI Mountain III", "Ultra Majestic Mountain II", "Ultra Majestic Paramount II" Logo: Same as the 90th anniversary variant of the 2002 movie logo, but it's videotaped and zoomed out. Later Variant: VHS and DVD releases from 2003-06 use the standard variant of the movie logo. FX/SFX: Same as its movie counterpart. Music/Sounds: None. Availability: Fairly common. This was used as another de-facto home video logo. The 90th Anniversary version is used on 2002 VHS and DVD releases such as Trading Places, SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, MTV Yoga, Dora the Explorer: Move to the Music, The Day Reagan Was Shot, Flashdance, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (where this inexplicably plasters the 1999 film logo), Black Sheep, Vanilla Sky, Major League, Damaged Care, Bleacher Bums, My Horrible Year!, all 3 Jackass volumes, and Rugrats Christmas. The standard version is used on 2003-06 VHS and DVD releases such as G.I. Joe: Valor vs. Venom, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Sponge Who Could Fly, Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, and Go Diego Go!: Diego Saves Christmas!. The standard version plasters the 90th Anniversary variant of the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo on the 2003 VHS releases of Extreme Ops, The Wild Thornberrys Movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure, and The Hours. 3rd Logo (January 7, 2003-March 5, 2019) Nicknames: "CGI Disc Mountain", "Modern Mountain of Doom", "Dark Mountain of Steel", "Dark Perumount" Logo: It starts off with the 2002 Paramount logo animation with the stars flying through the clouds, the zoom out of the "Paramount" script, and the stars coming in and circling around the mountain. When we are at a comfortable distance, a DVD disc flies in from the bottom, glides and settles behind the summit and the Paramount script. Then, a bright flash underneath the peak brings forth "DVD" with a line below it, and the Viacom byline (in the same font as the 1990 Viacom logo) below the line. The background fades to black, and a white laser scans the disc in a downward motion, turning the entire DVD Paramountain silver. The finished product almost resembles the Paramount DVD print logo. Trivia: This logo appears on the original Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DVD releases of The Avengers and Iron Man 3, alongside the Marvel logo. This is because The Walt Disney Company (owner of the films' production company Marvel Studios) and Viacom came to an agreement for the films' distribution to transferred from Paramount Pictures to Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, but Paramount still had two films left in their six-movie contract with Marvel. So, Paramount's logo would appear on the films and promotional material. Variant: At the end of the logo, a menu would appear with two selections which are "PREVIEWS" and "MAIN MENU", both of which would take you to exactly what it said on the tin when selected. When either one was selected, the Paramount logo fades out, with the selections disappearing a few seconds afterward. This was seen on some early DVD releases with this logo, such as The Italian Job (2003), How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Rugrats Go Wild!, SpongeBob SquarePants: The Complete First Season, The Ren & Stimpy Show: The First and Second Seasons, and All Grown Up: Lucky 13 (the last release to use this variant). FX/SFX: The DVD disc gliding on the 2002 Paramount Pictures logo animation. Music/Sounds: It starts off silent, but when the stars fly by some whooshing sounds are heard, culminating in a synthesized explosion effect with a thunderclap. As the white laser scans down, a humming sound can be heard. Music/Sounds Variant: On the post-menu-selection variation, a soft "bong" is heard as the logo fades out, followed by a whirling sound when the selections disappear. Availability: Very common. *It's seen on many post-2003 DVD releases released by the company, starting with the 2003 DVD release of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (even though the print logo on the cover is the 90th Anniversary version). *This logo was seen on DVD releases of Paramount Television-owned series from 2003-06 (when the rights went to CBS Home Entertainment after Viacom and CBS Corporation became separate companies), such as the 2004 releases of season 1 of both Happy Days and The Andy Griffith Show, and the 2005 release of season 2 of the latter. *After 2004, this logo would no longer appear on Nickelodeon releases (although The Wild Thornberrys Movie, released in 2003, doesn't have this logo). *Some DVD releases have the 90th Anniversary print logo, but they just contain the normal logo. Examples of this are the 2002 DVD releases of SpongeBob SquarePants: Sea Stories, Flashdance, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Black Sheep, Vanilla Sky, and Trading Places. *Despite Viacom introducing a new byline in 2010, and Paramount introducing a new logo in 2011, this logo continued to be used beyond those years, as seen on more recent releases such as Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, Project Almanac, Boyhood, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Gambler (2014), and Interstellar. *It was retained on a 2008 Lionsgate reprint of Nobody's Fool, on a double-feature flipper disc with Fat Man and Little Boy. *On the 2006 DVD of Mission: Impossible 2, this only appears on the second disc, as disc 1 is a reprint of the original 2000 release. *Don’t expect this to appear on Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, which is an IFC Films production. *The last release to use this logo was Instant Family. Editor's Note: The animation of the DVD flying in is pretty simple, while it as well as the sudden thunderclap and flash may surprise some, though it's still a favorite among most (though not as much as the 1989 logo). As already mentioned, this logo was still being used into 2019 despite a new Viacom byline and a new Paramount logo early in the decade. Paramount High Definition (September 26, 2006-March 5, 2019) Nicknames: "Digital Mountain", "From SD to HD", "Digital Paramount" Logo: We first see the effect of a television getting switched on, zooming out from one of the stars and transitioning to a dark, muddled version of the middle of the 2002 Paramount logo. When the star reaches the mountain's peak, two white lines appear and move across the picture vertically from the center, sharpening the picture and forming the silver text: --HIGH -------------------------------- ---- DEFINITION--- which zooms out into place. The Viacom byline (without the line) from the previous three logos fades in below and the HD text shines. Trivia: This logo appears on the original Disney Blu-ray releases of The Avengers and Iron Man 3 (see the Trivia section for the previous logo). FX/SFX: The television static, the zooming away from the star, and the revelation of the text. Music/Sounds: Some television static sound effects and a few loud whooshes and shining sounds. Availability: Common. *It can be seen on Paramount's Blu-ray releases. *It was also seen on Paramount HD-DVD releases (hence the term "High Definition" rather than just "Blu-ray" or "HD-DVD") from 2006 to 2008, such as Four Brothers and The Italian Job (2003). Starting sometime in 2007, Paramount's high definition releases were released exclusively on HD-DVD. When Toshiba announced they would discontinue HD-DVD, Paramount Home Media Distribution made like all other home media companies and became Blu-ray only. Their first film on Blu-ray since HD-DVD's discontinuation was The Spiderwick Chronicles. *This logo can be found on releases with the print version of this logo on the box art. *Sometime around 2008, the print logo was abandoned (examples include Last Holiday and Iron Man), while the on-screen logo continued to be used. *As with the 2003 Paramount DVD logo, the last release to have this was Instant Family. Editor's Note: Same as the 2003 DVD logo, though there's nothing really simple nor surprising about this. Final Note: Beginning with the release of Bumblebee, all Paramount DVDs and Blu-rays began using the 2011 theatrical logo. Category:Viacom Category:Paramount Pictures Category:Home video Category:Home video companies of the United States Category:Home Entertainment